


Draco Visits Hermione

by emokid6969



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Confusion, Love, Other, True Love, hermione explains it all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-16 06:49:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28702440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emokid6969/pseuds/emokid6969
Summary: There's tea, and Draco asking things.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Kudos: 5





	Draco Visits Hermione

"Harry doesn't want Ginny, they want you," Hermione said reasonably, like an insane person. Draco's eyes boggled.

"I _watched_ Ginny break up with Harry. Harry stopped eating for three days and barely spoke to me the entire time."

"Yeah, because instead of a breakup, what happened was Harry literally being told that none of the Weasleys want to see them anymore, not ever. Harry didn't care that Ginny didn't want to date them and didn't want to date Ginny; Harry cared that a _Weasley_ didn't care enough to even check in, either personally or through one of the _eight_ other Weasleys. Harry was ashamed they couldn't get someone to help you help them. Your pretending-to-not-care, by the way, is absolutely miserable for them, and they know you love them, but they keep waiting on you and you hardly ever Floo over, and when you do, you don't stay, and it breaks Harry's heart."

"Good," said Draco, selfishly. The thought occurred to them that there were other things that could be done selfishly, like Harry, right across the bedspread in that horrible dormitory of theirs. Nevertheless, Draco attempted valiantly to hang onto the idea of not caring whether Harry was miserable, and kept failing. Harry really was miserable?

"He really is miserable, you know," said Hermione. "Like I don't know what you saw when Ginny left but whatever that was, this is worse than that."

"They wouldn't _look_ at me," snarled Draco. "You don't get it, they just _laid_ there, and I made them pizzas, and we had these little mochi-things, and almonds, and Harry wouldn't eat anything, just, _nothing_ , and it didn't matter that we weren't going to have an oven for ages afterwards, they wouldn't even eat stuff they knew they were going to -- to _miss_ when they didn't have an oven, and --"

Hermione's eyes were calm. "Harry was dying and had just lost what they thought had been a chance to relieve you of the work of helping them die and to split it between nine Weasleys. They were sad because they hated watching you watching them die, and they _thought_ ," Hermione raised their eyebrows, emphasizing that, "they _thought_ that they could die alone, without you. They _thought_ you'd want it that way."

"That was stupid," Draco said.

"I'm not disputing that," said Hermione. "They were dying, if you'll remember."

Draco shifted uncomfortably. "I needed help. But just for things like getting groceries and cleaning, and sometimes making food. There should have been a friend, or someone around, Harry's _popular_."

"You mocked Harry in fourth year during the Triwizard tournament and you saw how well that went over. You really want to insist that Harry has real friends in the middle of all of this?" said Hermione. "Especially while dying, when no one wants them as a symbol of the shining future."

"They weren't dying," said Draco. "We were fixing them -- and they're better now, they've got muscles and everything."

Hermione laughed and swirled a bit of tea in their mug. "You know, when you came over, you asked if I could explain Harry to you. And I think that's possible, if you believe in love, but I don't know if you do, so I don't know how to explain to you that Harry is completely oriented around you and their love of you except to say that they are. And to provide illustrative examples of moping." Draco's heart leapt at the thought of Harry moping over them, and they tried to tell theirself that it was just because they wanted Potter to hurt, except that Draco acutely missed Harry and it was making them feel kind of sick.

"You know that Harry went out the same day we left and got Anthony Goldstein to help me move our things out by kissing them."

Hermione nodded. "Look, Harry used to think they had to have survival sex. And in the past, they did. It was a mixture of not wanting to look uncool to you and feeling like it was the safest option in social situations they didn't know how to handle any other way. Also I think you know that they have to convince theirself they're okay with it, like if they talk through it that'll work. And you've probably heard them talking theirself into it. I just want you to know they're not okay with it, and they felt awful every time they weren't around you, and that they thought that was what you'd wanted, and that was the only thing that got them through it. Other people aren't you, Draco. Harry doesn't want anyone else."

"They wanted Ginny, though," said Draco, with a firm resolve carved from nights watching Harry mope.

Hermione shook their head. "You know, when you came to Hogsmeade with Harry, they hoped it would be welcoming, and a good home that would hold the both of you. And instead Harry watched everyone they'd ever thought well of insult them to you before refusing to help. Ginny represented kind of the last bastion of that, the thing Harry thought was the most sure. The Weasleys were supposed to be there, and it wasn't a matter of wanting Ginny, it was a matter of wanting magical Britain to be a less-awful place to live in, and discovering that, actually, it wasn't."

And here was the entire point of Draco's visit, heading all the way to Australia to visit Hermione: "But why would Harry think that I wanted them to be with other people? I left -- I left _everyone_ for them, and they were just, they were _fine_. I mean they weren't fine, but, they still went out and, and flirted with people, and -- "

Hermione refilled their tea and blew on it. "Did they really? Or were they scared and reaching for what they thought they were supposed to do?"

And the secret, extra point Draco had been ruminating: "Isn't Harry just trying to survival-sex me into helping them? I mean, if they're so afraid, and they have all of these, these _'coping mechanisms'_ ," Draco made finger-quotes, bitterly.

Hermione sniffed. "You're extremely silly, Draco Malfoy. Also an ass: Harry loves you. And they have muscle mass now, remember? I mean, we both know Grimmauld Place is a veritable trash-heap, but, if Harry wanted someone else, they're technically physically capable of meeting someone -- which they _don't_ want to do, and they _aren't doing_. And anyway didn't you get Harry's owls when the neighbors were getting creepy?"

"The neighbors were trying to help," said Draco, feebly.

"They were sexually soliciting Harry, who was incredibly uncomfortable with it, and would've been regardless of who the neighbors were. Harry went owls to _you_ for help because they love you and they thought you might want them to not get, well," and Hermione raised her eyebrows significantly.

Draco felt queasy.

Hermione continued on. "And if you're worried about Ginny, you've been away for a horribly long time. Harry could've sent any number of owls Ginny's way and hasn't because _they don't want to_. They want you. For literally forever, you magnificent ass."

Draco wavered. "You're sure of that."

"Yes," said Hermione, and Draco floo'd to Harry's, and stayed.


End file.
